


Badass: Stiles Stilinski

by Akinasky



Series: SterekBingo 2020 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF Stiles, Baking, Canon but not quite, Derek Baking, Good Alpha Derek Hale, M/M, Self Defense, Self Defense Prompt, Sterek Bingo Baking, Sterek Bingo Ice Prompt, Sterek Bingo Self Defense, SterekBingo 2020, Stiles Knows Self Defense, Stiles and Derek can Ice Skate, Stiles and Scott are Struggling, Will be Completed Before the End of the Month, because I said so, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24036979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Imagine that everything in canon is much the same but Stiles has been taking self defense and martial arts since after Claudia died because it was the only way he could work through all of that anger and aggression.Story picks up when Gerard kidnaps Stiles and it goes a little different.
Relationships: Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Erica Reyes & Stiles Stilinski, Vernon Boyd & Stiles Stilinski
Series: SterekBingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729129
Comments: 34
Kudos: 266





	1. Don't Call Me Weak

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1: Self Defense  
> Chapter 2: Ice  
> Chapter 3: Baking

To say that Stiles was prepared for werewolves would be preposterous but he had been dealing with anger management, grief and too much energy for as long as he'd been alive. Well, too much energy as long as he’d been alive, the anger management and grief came later. When Claudia got sick, Stiles started getting into trouble, starting fights with Jackson and Danny and their friends. Sott was constantly at his back but they were going to get really hurt if something wasn’t done soon. And Stiles was the aggressive one.

Noah sat Stiles down less than six months after Claudia died because otherwise he was going to get kicked out of school at best or end up in jail at worse and asked him what he wanted to do and Stiles took this to mean he could try _anything_ at least once and then go from there.

Before his mother died, he went ice skating with her and he knew how much effort that took and energy it drained but decided that after losing her, Stiles couldn't go to the rink anymore. Instead he tried gymnastics, which he got very good at very quickly then moved on to martial arts in a small studio in Beacon Hills that was willing to work out something for the son of the Sheriff. It wasn't charity but it was fair.

By the time Stiles was sixteen years old and stumbling through the woods with his asthmatic best friend, Stiles had a calm way about him that scared even Scott sometimes. He was still clumsy in his excitement and flaily under the best of circumstances but when there was danger, Stiles could shut everything down and just act when he needed to. 

And it wasn't something that was widely known either.

Stiles allowed himself to be thrown through the door, down the stairs (wouldn't have gone for that if he had a choice... _ouch_ ) and came to a stop to the sound of muffled cries and turned over onto his back, eyes widening when he saw what was making those noises. 

Erica and Boyd were chained up, hooked up to some kind of home-built torture chamber with electricity running through them. They were sweating and limp against the restraints, the metal digging into already bleeding skin and he wondered if they were coated in wolfsbane or if the time spent down here had just done that much damage.

How long had they been missing?

Stiles couldn't really remember but didn't think it was long enough for them to be in this bloody, sweat soaked weakened condition. Unless they were being tortured with werewolf specific devices which was answer enough.

"Gerard Argent is going to pay for this," Stiles snarled and Erica and Boyd stared at him, maybe still concerned his tumble down the stairs had hurt more than they could tell or his words were surprising, he didn’t really have time to care.

Stiles dragged himself off the cemented floor and stumbled over to the devices to see if there were any simple ways that he could just turn everything off without killing himself in the process but nothing said 'on/off' and the door was opening again. 

"Fuck," he whispered and looked at the two betas, "We are going to get out of here. Be ready to stumble, run or walk out of here. Okay?"

They nodded and Stiles started knocking everything on the floor that he could, generally mayheming-it-up while the baby hunters stared at each other then walked right back upstairs again, calling out for Gerard. One stating very clearly, "I don't get paid for this, so nope. Just no. I am not putting a hand on the Sheriff’s human kid."

_Good_ , Stiles thought. That's whose attention he wanted.

The door opened again and someone started down the stairs so Stiles turned, sweeping another of the car batteries onto the floor and getting a _zing_ for his trouble. Stiles shook off the momentary pain and distraction, annoyed that hitting the ground wasn't enough to stop the electrical current from sweeping through Boyd and Erica behind him, made obvious by the whimpers they were still emitting. 

Gerard looked around at the mess, tutting like a school teacher looking at their most frustrating but undeniably powerless pupil. 

Stiles raised an eyebrow, trying to match Derek's inquisitive look and matching it with a frown but he was pretty sure he wasn't doing it justice.

Derek was going to kick his ass for getting taken.

Scott probably hadn't noticed.

Dad was probably losing his shit all over everyone.

Stiles had to get back to them.

"Mr. Stilinski, is this really necessary? You cannot save them by damaging the equipment, since we had to at least make sure it was going to last through a werewolf beating it up, you are definitely not strong enough to kill the device."

"Then turn it off and I won't have to tell the entire _fucking_ world that the 'principal' of our school is torturing two of its students and kidnapping another."

"You're not going to tell anyone anything I don't want them to know," Gerard said calmly.

"And what is it you think I am going to say instead?" Stiles snarled, baring his teeth. He slipped his hand inside his sweater like he was holding a bruised side and Gerard tracked the movement but didn't stop him. Stiles knew that his phone was probably upstairs and out of reach or smashed on the ground somewhere but there was a small recording device secured into the inside of his sweater. Yes, he struggles with paranoia ever since his teacher was replaced by Victoria Argent and the principal was replaced by Grand Pappy crazy Gerard Argent. With them in positions of authority and consistently using those positions to spy, mentally and emotionally screw with all of them, Stiles started putting certain things into his clothes that might help in a situation like this.

_It's not really paranoia if they are really after you._

Stiles turned on the device, wincing a little for effect and reached downwards enough to palm the Exacto knife that was tucked into the inside of his pant leg (yes the school is stupid enough to have rules about switchblades but hands out Exacto knives in various elective courses). Really, this was just sad, Gerard thought he was so weak and stupid that he didn't even frisk him.

Gerard was still smirking at his pain and Erica and Boyd were making a lot of noises and movement so it took a moment before Gerard refocused on Stiles enough to answer, "Mr. Stilinski, you are going to tell Scott and Derek that if anyone even thinks of coming after me or any more of my family then these two are going to be drawn and quartered then delivered back to their alpha."

Stiles tilted his head, frowning in faux confusion, "You do know that Erica and Boyd have families right? They are going to figure out that you took them Gerard. You can't just keep playing Hunter and get away with it. This is a world of technology, cameras on stoplights and personal security systems and doorbell cameras that Bluetooth everything to your phone. Don’t be stupid."

Gerard laughed so loud Stiles actually flinched, "My dear idiotic boy, my family has been dealing with these issues for longer than you have been alive, longer than your father's father has been alive and we still haven't had to deal with legalities. And do you know why?"

"Dirty cops on the take?" Stiles snarked. 

Gerard glared at him, "We call them allies, Mr. Stilinski but no. Because most families, when they find out their children or brothers or parents are monsters they leave them for me to kill. It is a kindness to them."

"Well it won't be here," Stiles concluded then stepped backwards, pulling his hand out of the sweater slowly with nothing in it, because he didn't want to show his hand too soon. If there was a way out of this without killing the man, then Stiles was going to do everything in his power to find it. He wasn’t putting Dad’s job at risk if he could help it.

Not that he cared whether Gerard lived or died, same with Kate, but the other Argents--Chris and Allison--they didn't deserve to keep losing their family members and he didn't want to continue to make a blood feud between the hunters and werewolves of Beacon Hills worse. "I'm not going to tell them anything and you aren't going to hurt them anymore."

Gerard smiled, a cold expression, as he stepped closer to Stiles who was flailing a little because of the crap he dumped all over the floor but mostly for show, he knew how to keep a sure footing even in an unsure space, "We will see about changing your mind, Mr. Stilinski."

Gerard grabbed Stiles and before he could bring his hand up to block, the old man delivered three quick blows to Stiles's cheek and his head snapped back on the last with a groan then forced all the pain and reactions and _feelings_ back before they had a chance to grab him and Stiles let himself go limp, dragging them both down to the floor. Gerard grunted in surprise and couldn't get situated fast enough to keep Stiles from punching him at the temple, knowing that was going to be the weakest part of the face, he felt the twinge in his fist but he knew how to box bare fisted and this was nothing compared to the pounding that was already starting in his head. It was going to be worse if he didn’t do something about Gerard’s attack.

Gerard shouted in frustration, pushing himself back away from Stiles but the teenager rolled with him, grappling and punching any weak spot he could. Stiles pushed up and over so his legs were straddling the man's chest and he brought his forearm down across the man's throat and let all of his weight start pressing down, listening as Gerard gurgled a little and gasped for breath. 

"Gerard, you are going to let Erica, Boyd and me go free and you are going to stay away from us."

Gerard was still struggling against Stiles's hold, not willing to give in or give up even though he had no leverage to get out of the hold and Stiles heard as Erica and Boyd started struggling and kicking things on the floor from the sounds they were making and Stiles looked up and was about to lock eyes with them when something struck him upside the head and he fell, releasing Gerard and listening through the sudden ringing in his ears as the released man took a deep and necessary breath. Stiles looked up and saw one of Gerard's lackeys holding a weapon and shaking like a leaf. Stiles laughed, more manic than anything which just made the other hunter even more nervous, "You going to put a bullet in a human? And not just any human, the sheriff's son?"

The hunter's hand shook even harder as Gerard started to scoot away from Stiles, trying to get his bearings after the aborted suffocation.

"Do you know what my father will do to you when he figures out it was you who hurt me, who killed me? He's going to destroy you and everything you hold dear, if you have a family, say goodbye to them before you pull that trigger because he's not going to give you the chance to say it later. And that's not even counting the werewolves I call friends. You wanna shoot a human who is going to fuck over your life, for this piece of shit? Really?"

That did it, the hunter glanced down at Gerard who was reaching out for the man for help but the hunter's hands dropped to his sides, gun dangling precariously before he turned tail and ran up the stairs and if Stiles was right he kept running until he was out of the house and away from the Argents.

Stiles laughed, "Sometimes fear wins for either side, just takes the right kind. Vengeance is meaningless without life," Stiles said sagely as he turned, reaching down to pull out the Exacto knife from its hiding place and jumped over to where Gerard was reaching for his gun. Stiles didn't want to get shot at all and the best-case scenario had him too close for Gerard to get a shot off. Stiles reared his head back and butted Gerard's nose, making Stiles a little dizzy and Gerard's nose exploded with blood. Stiles pressed the knife to Gerard's throat, "You wanna drop the gun or you do you want me to kill you in self-defense."

"My son and daughter in law will stop you, they will speak for me."

Stiles grinned, feeling the blood coating his mouth and wanting to spit it out before continuing this but didn't want to look away from Gerard. He was a cagey fucker and Stiles wasn't giving up the upper hand not that he’d gotten it back.

"You want a couple of newcomers, who are related to a mass murderer, someone who killed children in one of the most prominent Beacon Hills families against the sheriff's son. I could murder you in cold blood, in your sleep, and they are still going to side with me. Now are you going to unhook these machines and release these two teenagers from your torture porn basement and let us all go or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

Gerard sneered at Stiles, saying nothing.

"I'm going to need an answer dude."

"I think you have it," Gerard gritted out. 

Yeah, apparently, he did which left the teenager with very little in the way of options. At the moment he was going to err on the side of non-murder. Stiles pulled his hand back, removing the knife and punching the man a couple times in the face until he fell limp in Stiles's grasp. He stood up and dragged the unconscious man away from Erica and Boyd before grabbing some extra wire and wrapping it around his wrist behind his back and then his ankles as tightly as he could without doing more harm to the man. Stiles palmed his pockets but found no phone, he guessed that Gerard took it out of his pocket before coming down here.

One of the few smart things the guy has done so far.

Stiles turned, pressing a hand against the wall as he swayed a little. Head injuries, no matter how slight were always problematic for many reasons, he focused on one item on the floor for a couple seconds then walked over to Erica and Boyd who were staring at him in awe and possibly fear. Stiles pulled the gags out of their mouths and realized again that he still didn't know how to get them down without shocking the shit out of himself and unlike the werewolves, he wasn't going to keep coming back from that for hours or days on end.

"I need help getting you out of here, I'll be right back."

They both nodded and watched as Stiles walked back towards the door, pulling his knife back out and ascending the stairs, armed and semi-dangerous at least. Stiles got to the top of the stairs and looked around, seeing no one and walked into the hallway where the basement door was located. It was a quiet part of the house and there wasn’t any sound of a television or any other indication that someone might be in the house so he looked around for some sign of his phone. There was nothing so he continued on into the kitchen and caught sight of his phone and grabbed it while he looked around. He sent a quick text out to the others then made a call to Derek because he was Erica and Boyd’s alpha and he didn’t really trust Scott to come to their rescue. Maybe Stiles’s rescue but not Erica and Boyd’s rescue. Stiles wasn’t going to let them stay down there.

“Stiles!” Derek snarled into the phone when he answered the call, “Where are you? Are you okay? Isaac said you went missing after the game but Scott was being a tool about it.”

“I’m at the Argents and I can’t get Erica and Boyd out of here without some help. Please help me?”

Derek growled, “I’m on my way, stay safe. Okay Stiles? Please Stiles just stay safe.”

Stiles nodded, ironically knowing that Derek would actually hear it. He turned back around, heading back to the basement stairs because he didn’t like the idea of leaving Erica and Boyd alone with Gerard, even though the man was unconscious. Stiles still couldn’t hear anyone in the house and as he got closer, he could hear the captured betas moving down below.

Stiles wished he wasn’t human every once in a great while and being able to cut Erica and Boyd down without the fear of being electrocuted was near the top of the list. He knew that electricity is clearly bad for the werewolves as well but they were still alive. Stiles wouldn’t have been after a long shock.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, Stiles checked Gerard who was still unconscious before he walked back over to the betas and started looking for ways to make it at least not as horrible while they waited. Stiles was looking around again for some sort of gauge to turn the electrical current down when someone started descending the stairs, Stiles turned with a relieved smile, “Thank god, I didn’t know how long you were going to take.”

But it wasn’t Derek, it was Victoria and Chris.

“Fuck,” Stiles whispered as they rushed to the bottom and immediately rushed over to Gerard and started untangling him from the wires that Stiles roped him into. Stiles pulled the Exacto knife back out from his hoodie and held it out at the couple even though he could see the gun at Chris’s waist and the knife outlined under Victoria’s sheath dress. He was outmatched and there was no way that he was getting out of this without some backup. So he turned and grabbed the wire cutters that he’d seen on the table and started cutting the cuffs holding Boyd to the ceiling while they screamed behind the duct tape and then everything went dark.

When Stiles came to, he was in the well lit recovery room in the hospital and he groaned, bringing attention to himself and suddenly Dad was there, “Hey buddy, how you feeling? You got quite a shock there.”

Stiles murmured, tried to lift his hands but they wouldn’t move, “Dad? Wha?”

“Hey bud, it’s okay. Your hands are just a little crispy after you apparently tried to release metal cuffs that were electrified to save two werewolves from the Argents.”

Stiles’s eyes widened because before he landed in that basement, his dad hadn’t known about the supernatural. Stiles had been keeping it from him, trying to keep him out of trouble. Dad rolled his eyes, “Well after seeing it all with my eyes because _Derek freaking Hale_ called me to tell me where you were instead of you calling me. He opened my eyes the rest of the way and really, it’s not that surprising.”

Stiles nodded, because yeah, his Dad’s not stupid and once there is proof its hard to deny the supernatural’s existence in the world. A lot of things make sense when someone has all the pieces to look at.

“Well so Derek isn’t a murderer or anything, he’s actually…”

“Yeah, an Alpha werewolf who made a bunch of betas who is in the middle of a blood feud with a bunch of _not_ law-abiding hunters. What were you thinking son?”

Stiles swallowed, feeling the twinge of what was going to be deeply painful when he wasn’t on pain meds, actually his entire body felt like something left out in the sun for too long. Not just on the outside, like a sun burn for the soul.

“’m I on drugs?” Stiles mumbled.

“Well yes but there is something else,” Dad eyes shifted off of Stiles and over to the other side of the room and Stiles followed his gaze to Derek who was huddled into the corner of the room, trying to make himself smaller which was ridiculous because the man was built like a brick shithouse. “Derek has been helping with the pain as well, it was really bad and he offered.”

Stiles smiled a little in Derek’s direction, “Thanks Sourwolf.”

Derek grunted and Stiles figured that was more than he could really expect from the grumbly man.

“What about Boyd and Erica?” Stiles whispered.

“They are back home with their families and in case you are wondering, Gerard is currently sitting in a cell at the Sheriff’s station. You owe me every lie you have told me since Scott was turned as soon as you are up to it but for now I have to go and read the Argents the riot act about all the shit they have been doing in the name of ‘saving the people’ or some shit. Ugh.”

Stiles smiled a little, “I didn’t want to lie Dad, I did it to protect you. I just want you to know that.”

“Kiddo, we are supposed to at least protect each other and not having all the details on the cases in this town hasn’t really kept me safe. Okay?”

Stiles nodded, wincing a little when the movement caused pain to ratchet up and down his back. He moved his head back to where it didn’t hurt and listened as his dad walked out of the room. Derek walked over and pressed his hand around Stiles’s wrist and the pain started to seep away again and Stiles moaned happily.

“Stiles, you have to know what you did for Erica and Boyd, it changed things.”

Stiles rolled his eyes behind his closed lids and rolled his head to look at the alpha who was still holding his wrist and sitting on the edge of the bed, “Is this going to be some weird-ass you can’t be around me or my pack for your own benefit kind of thing because I have news for you.”

“Whoa,” Derek said, trying to get Stiles to stop, waving his free hand in front of Stiles’s face. Stiles closed his mouth and listened, “That’s not what this is. I wanted to tell you that you basically made yourself one of my pack and no matter what beef Scott has with me you are mine to protect from now on.”

Stiles sighed, trying to imagine this going well. He couldn’t. Scott was going to lose his shit; he hates Derek and was constantly trying to steal the betas from him. Ugh, being stuck between two werewolves wasn’t going to be fun but there was only one answer for him right now. “Well then you are going to have to step up your game,” he murmured.

Derek chuckled, leaning down and if Stiles didn’t know any better he thought that was a little kiss to his aching knuckles. It couldn’t have been though. That’s just more than he could hope for. At least he had someone that was going to look after him when Scott was off playing Romeo to Allison’s Juliet. He could deal with that.

For now.

“Okay well, Alpha mine, I am going to pass out now. Okay?”

“I’ll be here when you wake up again,” Derek said and rubbed his thumb over Stiles’s wrist in comfort.


	2. Peace on the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erica makes the McCall 'pack and the Hale Pack hang out, mostly so Derek and Stiles could go on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SterekBingo: Ice Prompt

Derek just returned to the loft after visiting the Stilinski house for a mandatory lunch with the father and son, it had been required by the Sheriff every week since he found out about the supernatural, werewolves and all that, six weeks ago. Stiles was healing well though he was going to have some pretty gnarly burn scars on his right palm and arm where he’d been holding the wire cutters to get Erica and Boyd out of the torture basement in the Argent house. Erica, Boyd and Isaac were all smooshed together on the couch at the moment, soaking up some pack closeness, they were all rightfully clingy after the two betas disappeared dn though their families had been given all the right lies and half truths, this was a rarity because Boyd and Erica’s families were just as clingy, especially the Reyes family.

“How’s Stiles doing?” Erica asked shyly.

Derek smiled at her, “He is healing well and climbing the walls to lose some energy but his dad won’t let him go back to the martial arts studio any time soon because of what happened. He’s says it’s a punishment because Stiles was lying but I know he was lying about that; he’s scared for his son.”

The others nodded, of course the Sheriff was freaked out. Not only did he find his son burned and beaten but he found out that an ‘upstanding’ family in the town were vigilante hunters while the worrisome ‘Hale kid’ was the victim of far more than he’d ever thought possible. Derek knew that Noah’s whole world was askew right now and controlling his son was the only thing he could do at the moment. Claiming ‘Doctor’s Orders’ kept Stiles from arguing too much.

“You know, you could probably get Sheriff Stilinski to let Stiles go do something if you went with him,” Erica said without preamble.

“Huh?” Derek asked unintelligently.

“You know, there has to be other things he could do and maybe if we all went then the Sheriff would know that Stiles was safe and he would be getting out of the house.”

Derek looked at Isaac and Boyd then back at Erica, “What’s happening right now?”

“Stiles knows how to ice skate; I saw him once when we were younger. He’s really good. You should ask him to go ice skating.”

Derek stared at her, dumbfounded and mute.

“What? You think you are subtle at all about how you feel about him? The whole he-protected-your-betas thing was just a really good reason to get him to commit to this pack but you like him. You have for a long time.”

Derek flopped down on a nearby chair, missing and landing on the floor instead with an ‘ummph’ but he still couldn’t move or speak.

Erica frowned at him, “Did _you_ not know or something?”

Derek thought about all the time he’d been spending with Stiles, rubbing his hand over the teen’s shoulder and the back of his neck. All the time he’d been spending with the Sheriff, not only to assure the man knew everything he needed to know to safely traverse the supernatural world (including backing Noah up when he went over to the Argents to ‘confiscate’ all their wolfsbane weaponry. Noah was scary when someone touched his kid) but also spending time with the man because he wanted Noah to like him.

Why the hell had he wanted the man to like him? What was the point?

Apparently the point was that he was wolf courting Stiles without even knowing and his nasent beta apparently caught on before him.

“Holy _shit!_ ” Erica exclaimed with a barely repressed laugh, “I can’t believe you didn’t know. How could you not know? It’s so obvious, and ever since he got hurt, you have been like grooming him. NOT LIKE CREEPY ‘ _GROOMING’!_ You know what I mean. You bring him food and crap!”

Derek looked over at Boyd and Isaac who were in various signs of distress and confusion though he didn’t know what about, he was to confused by his own idiocy to even wonder what the rest of them knew.

“I mean, I just… I haven’t felt anything like that since I was fifteen. I didn’t. I can’t feel that way about him.”

Erica frowned, “Why the hell not!?!”

“Because he’s underage and I am not _her!_ ” Derek snarled, scrambling up off the floor and walking away before Erica could continue asking and demanding information from him. He didn’t need for them to know everything Kate did to him before she destroyed his everything. He rushed up towards his room and slammed the door before flopping down on the bed and pushing everything out of his mind.

When the door opened and closed later, he heard the buzzing of a text message and looked at his phone to see an apology from Erica and the boys saying they would see him later.

At least Erica apologized, she was amazing but she was mostly like a bulldozer when she wanted her way. Though Derek couldn’t understand why she cared about Derek’s feelings when it came to Stiles. Or vice versa, there wasn’t anything in it for her. Derek knew that it wasn’t like she was truly selfish but she was conniving and usually found something good for herself in anything she did.

Derek tried to think his way out of the feelings that had apparently crept up and bit him in the face when it came to Stiles, tried to imagine all the annoying things about him that made Derek want to kill him when he first met Stiles and Scott but found himself smiling instead. He decided to go for a run instead of thinking, maybe he could tire himself out of like an underage person.

That Friday rolled around and Derek got an S.O.S. with an address from Boyd and quickly grabbed his jacket and keys before heading out to the Camaro to go help his betas. He couldn’t stop the anxiety from rising up in him at the thought of what could be happening until he pulled into the parking lot of one of the small ice rinks just outside of town and groaned.

“Seriously, I am going to kill them myself,” Derek snapped as he jerked open the door and slammed it behind him, making the metal creak under the pressure. Derek cringed at the sound and continued on towards the door, already hearing some of the voices and one particular heartbeat making itself known to him as soon as he opened the door.

The wave of cool air hit him and soothed some of the anger even when he didn’t want or need to be soothed, it reminded him too much of so many times when he used to ice skate with his sisters. Reminding him that no matter how much Erica annoyed him with her conniving ways, she reminded him a little bit of Laura and he loved her for that.

Inside the rink was mostly empty except for Erica, Boyd and Isaac who were sitting in the bleachers along with Stiles, Lydia, Allison and Scott who were all trying to put on skates. Derek made a beeline for his betas.

Erica looked up, “Derek, glad you made it. We figured after what happened, this might be a good time to play nice with Scott and the others. You know, the more of us that are together then the safer we can be.”

“Okay first of all, what the hell is Allison doing here? And you know better than anyone that Scott would rather fight all of us on his own then be civil to the Hale pack.”

Erica rolled her eyes heavenward like _she_ was asking for heavenly assistance. Which, okay, rude! Derek is having an accurate response to the fact that Allison who was at best a flunkie by default and spy at worst for the hunters that destroyed the Hale pack and tortured Boyd and Erica very recently. Allison may have been innocent of what was happening in the basement but there were plenty of ways that her naivete could be used against all of them.

Derek looked over at Stiles who was staring at them and Scott was glaring at Derek while hovering next to Allison even though he was sitting.

“Look Derek, this is a good of a place as any to extend an olive branch and you get to hang out with Stiles and see his mad skills for yourself,” Erica winked then went back to playing with the camera on her phone while Isaac held out ice skates for Derek, correct size and brand. He frowned at the beta in confusion but Isaac just nodded to Erica and shooed him away to put the skates on.

Derek groaned, figuring that if he didn’t follow through with the skating then Scott would just use it to say he was the one putting them all in danger by not trying. Scott already had enough fake and real reasons to hate him, Derek had no intention of adding to the list.

Not in purpose anyway.

He walked over to the other humans, pressing a gentle hand to Stiles’s shoulder to make sure he wasn’t in pain and to just let him know that Derek was there. Stiles looked at him with a shy smile. “Scott, thank you for coming, I know that we haven’t had the best interaction in the past but I hope this will be the first of many peaceful get togethers between my pack and yours.”

Scott _was not_ an alpha but the recognition that he had a pack would hopefully put his affronted pride on the backburner for the moment.

“Thanks for the invite, it’s been forever since we did anything that wasn’t just gaming at home or running for our lives,” Scott’s scent and voice were stilted and awkward, proof beyond chemosignals that he was bending the truth a lot but at least he was being civil despite the frowny brows he had (and Stiles joked about Derek’s murder brows all the time).

“It’s been _years_ since I went ice skating, it’s a good choice, takes concentration and balance. Would be great practice for the betas,” Stiles stammered out excitedly though still trying to play peace keeper between Derek and Scott.

Derek squeezed Stiles’s shoulder once more before he sat down and started putting on his skates, looking back at his betas “You’re doing this, you know.”

Erica and the others dangled their skates in front of them with matching grins and Derek was pretty positive they had never gone ice skating before so he was going to get his bearings on the ice before he went back to help them learn the ropes.

It’s been years for him as well.

Once he was laced into the loaner skates and the strings were safely tucked away, Derek followed the others to the opening at the side of the rink, he wobbled a little then caught his balance like he’d never stopped before he stepped out onto the ice. Stiles was right behind him, hand on the edge of the rink as he looked around and Lydia was already taking off with the aplomb of someone who clearly was still coming here enough to do spins and even a small jump. Stiles smiled at Derek then started forward as well, holding his hand out to Derek in invitation.

Derek followed, like the proverbial moth to the flame. Apt analogy for Stiles who definitely had a spark of something inside of him, none of them knew what it would come to or if anything ever would, it was there. Derek reached out and their fingers gripped each other and Derek fumbled a little at the warmth seeping from the contact, something he’d tried to ignore all this time but it was there.

“Whoa big guy, you got this,” Stiles said, pressing his other hand to Derek’s side and helping him retain his balance.

Derek’s lips tilted up in an almost smile in thanks then he found a rhythm, one that he’d lost but hadn’t completely forgotten.

“Wow, you’re really good on skates,” Stiles exclaimed quietly as they skated the boundary of the rink just to reconnect with the ice, their arms brushing against each other a little every once in a while, but not enough to jar either of them.

“I used to pair skate with Laura, if you can believe that.”

“I cannot believe that at all but I think its nice. I used to skate with my mom.”

“Thanks for not making that into a joke, I had enough of that when we were younger to last a couple lifetimes. I actually really enjoyed skating with Laura when we were younger but a bunch of my friends would make fun of me and I turned into this shitty basketball player slash player who was always after some girl. I think it was like some weird overreaction. Like my friends didn’t think I was man enough so I became something that I hated even though I kind of loved it too.”

Stiles nudged his shoulder gently, “Of course you liked being a popular guy who could get any girl, like who wouldn’t like that? Even if the things you did were shitty, I guess what I’m saying is that its easy to see why you may have been tempted away from the ‘less than manly’ world of figure skating with your sister. I stopped because my mom died and I couldn’t imagine going without her but I thought for two seconds when I was little that I was going to be a hockey player even though I was being taught figure skating movements, I figured I could get all the gear and shift over when I was older. Then Mom died and I couldn’t step back onto the ice.”

“You’re really good,” Derek murmured as they did another circuit and Stiles spun around so he was skating backwards, keeping his gaze on Derek even while clocking the other skaters on the ice so he didn’t collide with anyone.

“I’m glad you’re on the ice with us,” Stiles responded, “Maybe we can change some of those bad memories into something good. Laura would want that for you I think.”

Derek nodded and stuttered a little as he said, “You remind me of her sometimes. She was sarcastic and so smart, if she had a real chance, she would have been an amazing alpha.”

Stiles elbowed Derek a little, making him falter, then handled him into balance again, “Sorry. I just was going to say, give yourself a chance. You’re a good alpha too.”

Derek shrugged and looked back towards the other betas, “You want to help me get them on the ice?”

Stiles grinned a little evily, “Hell yes I do.”

Derek rolled his eyes but led his human pack member over to where Erica and the others were lacing their skates and she was giving him a knowing grin.

 _Yeah yeah, my crush is obvious, thanks Erica._ Derek rolled his eyes and helped his pack members get onto the ice.


	3. Baking to Say I Like You (But Not Fudge)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek is baking his way into Stiles's heart and stomach.

The ice skating apparently is going to be a thing, whether Derek wanted it to be or not. Derek liked watching Stiles help to teach the others how to get better on the skates. Derek’s crush/lust for Stiles was quickly becoming an obsession and the instincts that he’d had since he was born was screaming at him constantly now.

Not to mention, Erica was doing whatever she could to keep pushing them together. Derek couldn’t hide it from her that he didn’t really mind that she was shoving them together. He didn’t really know how to make his crush clearer so Stiles would figure it out. He didn’t really know how to flirt with people anymore but especially someone like Stiles who seemed more than a little convinced after all the shit from Lydia that no one would actually want him.

Derek didn’t even know how to ask about Stiles’s attraction but he did know that he had something he could do that no one really knew about.

He could bake.

And the old adage did say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Derek looked through one of the cookbooks that he pulled from the Hale family vault, something that was moved because his mother and sisters had started using pdf’s and the computer/tablet to view their recipes. Derek brushed his finger across one page that had his mother’s handwriting stating, _‘Aaron’s favorite snack.’_

Derek decided to start there. And because he sucks at this, Derek started dropping off baskets of food with the note _‘From D’_ on the Stilinski doorstep and running off after knocking on the door. First is was No Bake Cookies, then lemon squares even though the sour citrus smell burned his nose a little while he was making everything with fresh ingredients. He followed that up with three different batches of fudge that all turned out wrong but the betas were pleased as punch to eat anyway (sugar rushes in werewolves, especially young ones was not something he wanted to do again). He didn’t continue with the fudge, going back to cookies, brownies, cupcakes with orange and blue frosting. He also made baked banana and apple chips because Stiles would want to share something with his dad but wouldn’t have allowed him to have any of the heavy desserts. His eagle eyes on the Sheriff’s food intake was legendary and he even had a group message with at least three of the deputies at the station.

Stiles must know they were from Derek as there weren’t a lot of ‘D’ name people in his life and apparently Danny talked him out of the possibility very quickly, according to Erica.

Nothing came of it until a couple weeks passed and they were all getting together for another pack movie night.

Stiles was getting the snacks into bowls and popping the popcorn in the kitchen at Derek’s place because no one else really had a place for all of them to be together.

The others hadn’t arrived yet and Stiles was flustered, Derek could tell but he didn’t know how to make it better. He didn’t know how to open his mouth and just say something.

Finally, Stiles jumped in, in usual ‘Stiles’ fashion, “Hey Derek, do werewolves have things that they like to do when they are flirting or courting or whatever you might call it?”

Derek swallowed, his throat closing a little on the spit in his mouth, “Well…”

Stiles stopped, the sound of the popcorn expanding in the machine as it tumbled its way out and into the big bowl next to it. He turned to where Derek was standing and waited.

“I’m not like a wolf and a man; I am both and I am neither all the time. It’s a weird thing but its about contributing to the pack and providing for the people you care about. When you saved Erica and Boyd, it opened my eyes to you and to what I feel for you and things have changed rapidly since then. I was scared though.”

Stiles smiled a little, just a little uptick in the cheek. “Derek, the ice skating, was that supposed to be like a date type thing?”

Derek looked down, rubbing his thumb over the skin of his knuckles like there was a phantom ache from gripping them too tightly for too long. “I didn’t really plan that, I just showed up because Erica is a menace.”

Stiles grinned, “Yeah but you wouldn’t have her any other way and you know it.”

Derek shrugged, not willing to argue or lie about something like that. There was no point, Stiles may not be a wolf but he was intuitive.

“But something happened at the rink, didn’t it?”

Derek nodded slightly, “Yeah, I couldn’t fight or push away how I felt. You’re so good with Erica and the boys, they listen to you and they like you. And you protected them when it would have been easy to walk away and save yourself, then you taught them something. You helped me give them something fun to look forward to. I get it if its not what you want, I understand that I was making overtures to someone who may not even want it. I guess that’s why I was cooking things for you, my mother did it for my father but also it’s a non-aggressive way to show gratitude and attraction. It’s a way to provide.”

“You made snacks for my dad,” Stiles grinned.

Derek nodded, “I didn’t want him to be left out, he’s important to you.”

Derek heard when the car doors downstairs opened and closed and realized he was running out of time and the popcorn and snack were ready, “Will you make fudge with me? I couldn’t get it right.”

Stiles grinned, “Hell yes I will, my mother had a peanut butter chocolate fudge that was to die for.”

“Sounds great.”

Derek and Stiles both turned to greet people as they started walking through the front door and the wink from Erica wasn’t subtle at all. Derek rolled his eyes and went to start the movie they voted on this afternoon.


End file.
